Turkish brew

A few months ago, I posted about the Turkish film “Valley of Wolves,” in which crazed American GIs massacre innocent guests at a wedding party and a Jewish surgeon removes organs from Iraqi prisoners in a style reminiscent of the Nazi death-camp doctor Josef Mengele. The movie was an enormous hit in Turkey and now, according to the Washington Times, it is playing before packed houses in Germany. These “houses” are packed with young Muslim immigrant males mostly of Turkish origin, one of whom said “the Americans always behave like this. They slaughtered the red Indians and killed thousands in Vietnam.” I wonder whether he has a working knowledge of Turkey’s history.
A stated goal of the Bush administration is to increase our popularity among Muslims, which I suppose is okay in principle. But the reaction to “Valley of Wolves” provides further evidence that this goal is futile in the short and the medium term, and that we would be fools to base any serious policy decision on a desire to promote it.